


Sneeze In The Distance

by Tiofrean



Category: Preacher (TV)
Genre: Cinnamon Roll Cassidy, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, sick!Jesse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 18:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9453791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiofrean/pseuds/Tiofrean
Summary: Jesse managed to catch a cold and Cassidy puts it on himself to take care of his sick boyfriend. The best cure? Chicken soup, of course!





	

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to MermaidSheenaz for half of the lines in the dialogues! Thank you, darling! <3 
> 
> Also, I'm as sick as Jesse was int his fic, maybe worse, so I guess I wrote fluff to cure myself. Enjoy the fluff, everyone! 
> 
> As always, comments are greatly appreciated! <3

Jesse sneezed for the fifth time in the last two minutes, and Cassidy rolled his eyes yet again. How the preacher had managed to get a cold in the middle of fucking _Texas_ was really beyond him, but the evidence was palpable. Sure it was the middle of texan winter, and the fact that Jesse’s little church was drafty as an old nun’s frock didn’t really help, but Cass still considered getting a cold had been justified when he had still been in Europe, not on the hottest piece of earth out there. He could still remember the snowy winters and temperature that had made your eyeballs dam near freeze whenever you had stepped out of your house. This? This was mildly chilly, not even properly cold yet, a bit on the “I think I may wear something with long sleeves today” side.

But all of that didn’t change the fact that Jesse still looked miserable, sitting on his couch and staring at the flatscreen of the gigantic TV (nobody had come to collect the prize in the raffle, thank you very much), shivering visibly despite being dressed accordingly to the weather, as sick as a small hospital.

When Jesse sneezed for the sixth time, and Cass rolled his eyes for the _fifth_ , he decided he had to do something to remedy the situation before his boyfriend sneezed his brains out on that fucking tissue. He raked his brain for home remedies for cold, coming up with what his grandmother had used to do when he had been sneezing or coughing. Humming thoughtfully, glancing at Jesse, he gave his knee a pat and heaved himself up from the couch.   
“Ya need something for that cold, padre” when two confused eyes shot up at him and a weak mumble of ‘I’m fine’ reached his ears, Cassidy was already halfway to the kitchen. He only smirked and went to check out the cupboards.

Twenty minutes later and all Cass had found was pots, plates, frozen vegetables and canned chicken soup. He frowned down at it, gaze skimming over the ingredient list, as his eyebrows slowly travelled all the way to his hairline. Judging by the amount of bullshit that was written on it, Cassidy was actually pleasantly surprised to find some actual chicken inside… well, whole 2% of it. He opened the window and threw the can outside, making a disappointed noise when it didn’t just open when it hit the ground. He followed it with his eyes, planning on smashing it later on… maybe with that hammer he had found in the church recently?

“No worries, mate” he mumbled to himself, making his way to their bedroom and taking all the blankets he could find, wrapping them tightly around himself. “I’m not giving ya any of that bloody American canned bullshit” he walked through the living room, passing a very confused looking Jesse. Cass grabbed his hat and got out of the house. “I’m gonna cook you the real thing, like me nana used to!” He grinned and closed the door behind him, hissing at the overall brightness of the world. Adjusting his blankets and putting on his shades, Cassidy directed his steps to the nearest bushes. He didn’t have the time, nor money, to go and buy a chicken. He could do with frozen vegetables, but he needed some meat to put into the soup.

Cassidy’s grin only widened when he walked to the last place he had seen a few runaway chickens hiding a few days ago.

 

__________

 

Jesse frowned and almost forgot to sneeze when he saw a blanket monster, looking more like a lumpy pile of random clothes stuck together by some ungodly power, move through the living room. The pile was mumbling something to itself and Jesse frowned harder, thinking that he should probably go and see a doctor after all - hallucinations weren’t a good syndrome in _any_ disease. But then suddenly the pile grabbed the Chinese hat and Jesse’s brain connected the dots. He watched Cass go out - briefly wondering why the everlasting fuck was he going out in the broad daylight - before his curiosity won and he, too, stood up.

Walking on shaky legs, Jesse made it to the window, looking out and spotting Cassidy immediately. The vampire was walking briskly to the little bushes growing around a small tree… then he stepped between them, searching for something for a longer moment. As Jesse watched, the vampire-turned-pile-of-clothes dove down, almost completely disappearing between leaves and twigs. He waited, trying not to think too much about the sky being devoid of even the smallest cloud... and then he was thinking about _burning bushes,_ which in turn made him think about the sermon he had to write about _Moses,_ and Jesse promptly changed that train of thought, before he managed to give himself a headache atop of the cold.

Standing by the window, waiting for Cass to emerge from… _whatever he was doing there_ , Jessie reached into his pocket, drawing out a small flask of whiskey he had been sipping on for the past hour (What? Alcohol disinfects, right?). He took another small sip and almost spit it out when Cassidy jumped out of the greenery, chasing a… _chicken?_

Jesse blinked, then blinked again. The pile of blankets stormed in front of the window, tripping only once, and disappeared from his sight. He waited, half-heartedly trying to put all of that on his condition, but soon enough, Cassidy marched triumphantly back inside. He was holding his sunglasses in one hand, something that looked like a beheaded bird in the other, a firm grin plastered to his blood-stained face. Jesse eyed him, half-confused, half-suspicious.

“Cassidy… what exactly are you doing?”  
“Well, padre, you seem to feel a bit under the weather, right? So I’m making you chicken soup” Cass announced and walked merrily to the kitchen, blood dripping from the chicken he was clutching between his fingers.   
“Maybe..." Jesse frowned, “maybe we should just call Emily?”   
“Noooo” the vampire half-whined. “She would latch on your cock the first chance she gets when I turn me back around! I CAN DO IT BY MYSELF!”

And so, Jesse sat back down on his couch, took one of the blankets Cassidy had left on his way to the kitchen and wrapped it tightly around himself. He took out the flask and took a long sip… This was going to be a hard afternoon.

 

__________

 

A few minutes later, a loud noise from the kitchen reached Jesse’s ears. A long string of curses followed. Jesse tugged his blanket over his head and laid himself down along the length of the couch.

When the noise happened again, answered by some stray dog barking outside the window, Jesse burrowed his head deeper in the blankets. He looked at his watch - half an hour. Half an hour and he was still alive and nothing was on fire. It was good.

Fifteen minutes later, something _was_ on fire. Jesse could definitely feel the smell of burning… _something_ reaching his nose even despite the barrier of the blanket. He elected to ignore it, taking another sip of his whiskey.

Twenty minutes later, the dogs outside - there were two of them now - started squeaking and Jesse had a brief thought on how strange they sounded, before he heard a decidedly vampirish growl coming from the kitchen. He changed the channel on the tv, absentmindedly wondering where he had put the fire extinguisher. The smell of burning _something_ was getting stronger.

Another ten minutes, and Jesse was ready to get up and go investigate, when the door opened and Emily walked in. She had a very confused expression on her face and was saying something about rabid dogs. Jesse couldn’t really focus enough on what she was saying, because he chose that moment to spare a look in the direction of the kitchen. He would be happy if he saw it, but the dense smoke obscured all of his view. This time, it was Emily who squeaked, and Jesse snorted aloud, which prompted a loud sneeze in turn.

“Jesse, what is going on?” She looked at him with wide eyes, and the preacher couldn’t help but smirk.   
“Cassidy is making chicken soup…” he trailed off, in awe of how utterly ridiculous it sounded, even if it was true. Emily closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, an exasperated sigh escaping her.   
“...and with that, he’s burning the whole place down, I take it?” She shook her head and stomped in the direction of the kitchen. Jesse watched her disappear in the thick clouds of smoke and really considered praying for Cassidy, especially when he heard the shouting match that followed.

If that hadn’t been enough, the door to the house opened again, this time with a loud bang, and Tulip stepped in. Jesse rolled his eyes at her, going back to his previous master-of-the-house position on the couch.   
“The hell is wrong with you?” Tulip asked, rising an eyebrow. The shouting from the kitchen drew her attention and she gazed that way. “The hell is wrong with _them?_ ”

The preacher groaned, eyeing her tiredly, flopping one hand in the general direction of the kitchen.   
“Cassidy was making chicken soup, Emily… came to have an argument, apparently” he murmured, closing his eyes and trying not to sneeze. He could almost _feel_ Tulip’s frown deepening.   
“Chicken soup… wait. You’re not _sick_ , are you?” She asked, voice suspicious.   
“It’s just a _cold…_ ”   
“Oh no. _No_. No no nonononono” He heard her marching to the kitchen, her appearance apparently enough to stop whatever row was going on. Both Cassidy and Emily fell silent at the same time. There were a few rushed whispers and Cassidy saying something about taking the soup from his _cold, dead hands_ , which made Jesse grin madly. And then two sets of footsteps stomped through the living room and disappeared behind the doorstep. Jesse was too tired to even open his eyes and see who was leaving. Whoever was still in the kitchen must have won the fight over the dead bird and a pot full of boiling water.

 

__________

 

Cassidy was absolutely enraged by the time he managed to put the frozen vegetables into the pot. The chicken was halfway cooked already and he didn’t want to wait too long with adding the rest of the ingredients, but then in walked _Emily_ , and Cass was left with a hard choice. He could continue cooking and probably let her take over, or he could hunch protectively around the pot, hissing at her like an angry cat, protecting what was his.

_Of course he chose the latter._

“No need to be so defensive about it, Cass. It’s nice you’re cooking the leftovers for dinner for the hungry” Emily smiled at him, and Cassidy snarled in response. It was beyond outrageous. What was she even _doing_ here? Cass didn’t want her help. The soup was coming out just fine, and the place was still standing, thank you very much. Her endless meddling would only get in the way and ruin everything.   
“It’s not fer charity, it’s fer _Jesse_ , now off ya go” he waved one hand at her, still remaining protectively folded over the pot. She frowned at him and opened her mouth.

If asked later, Cass wouldn’t recall what happened next exactly, only that somehow they went from _‘get the hell away from my dead chicken stew’_ to _‘fuck the fucking fuck away from Jess’_ in a surprisingly short time. Thank god Tulip had magically appeared between them before Cassidy had a chance to throw chicken innards at the nosy organist.   
“Emily, we have to go” Tulip stated with all the seriousness of someone announcing an untimely death of a loved one. Emily just stared at her, but, thank god, she shut up and stopped going on about Cassidy’s prowess in the kitchen.

“What do you mean? _Can you see this mess?_ ” She waved her hand around and alright, maybe Cass had been a bit _too enthusiastic_ about this whole thing. But then again, Jesse was sick and he needed a soup, so there you go.   
“Listen. If Jesse has a cold, you really don’t want to be here” Tulip then grabbed Emily before she had a chance to say anything else and proceeded to march out of the kitchen, and out of the house, basically dragging the girl behind her. Cassidy grinned and turned back to the task at hand,

 

__________

 

 _Nana would be proud of her wee boy right now,_ Cassidy thought an hour later, pouring a big bowl of soup and rooting around the drawers for a spoon. When he found it, he took both to Jesse, pausing as soon as he stepped through the threshold to the living room.

Jesse was bundled up on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, one hand curled protectively around a little empty flask, pressing it to his chest. He was asleep, mouth parted to help with breathing, and Cass didn’t have the heart to wake him. He placed the bowl on the coffee table and planted his ass right next to it, leaning forward and propping both elbows on his knees. He watched his preacher for a long time, a soft smile on his lips and a warm feeling stirring in the pit of his stomach. Jesse looked so peaceful like that, his usual ball-of-rage mode totally gone. Cassidy was content to just sit there and count Jesse’s soft breaths, but the man stirred finally, opening his eyes and blinking blearily at him.

“Cass?” Jesse asked and Cassidy’s heart melted a little at the gentle tone he was graced with. Jesse looked more than half-asleep, head apparently still fuzzy as he tried to piece together why the vampire was just sitting there and staring at him. He tried not to look like an overeager puppy when he helped Jesse to sit upright and handed him the soup.

"I hope ya like it, Jess. Chasing that bloody chicken cost me half of the skin on me arm" Cassidy threw in for a good measure, and Jesse frowned at him, the spoon pausing halfway to his mouth.   
"Don't whine, that skin grew back instantly when you _drank_ that fucking chicken, right?" Jesse countered and finally managed to taste the first spoonful.  
"But it still fecking hurt so eat yer fecking soup or so help me the runaway god!" Cassidy was ready to get into his offended mode, but the look of bliss on Jesse’s face paused him mid-cringe.

The preacher even went as far as to close his eyes and hum softly in delight, and Cass promptly forgot what he had been so riled up about a few seconds prior. _Damn_. Leave it to Jesse to make him all heart-eyed over his boyfriend eating a _chicken soup_.

Jess finished the bowl in less time than Cass had ever thought it was possible to finish a bowl of soup, but the look he received in return only confirmed that it hadn’t only been the hunger talking. Jesse must have liked _it a lot_ , especially going by his own version of heart-eyes that he was throwing at Cass for the next five minutes. Cassidy decided that they had to do something, before they both drowned in some Disney-themed fairy tale, so he stretched on the couch next to Jesse, wriggling around until he was lying on his back with the preacher half-jammed between him and the backrest, half-sprawled over his chest. He tugged the blanket higher over Jesse, making sure there were no gaps that could let in the dreadful cold. Jess only hummed happily again and snuggled closer, pressing his face into the collar of Cassidy’s ratty t-shirt.

With a sigh, Cassidy settled in for a nap, the romantic part of his vampire heart content with having Jesse weighing him down, warm and loose-limbed on top of him. The peace didn’t last long, however, for a few moments later, a loud sneeze and a very wet, very congested sniffle reached his ears.

“Did ya just… _sneeze into my shirt?_ ” Cassidy asked, disbelieving. A whole pack of tissues was lying on the table within their reach, after all. "Oh fer fuck's sake, Jess!"   
The preacher looked at him with bleary eyes, blinking rapidly, utterly adorable in his confusion.   
"Blood is one thing... that's just _gross._ "  
"That's just _snot_ , Cass" Jesse lifted his head to look at him properly, a small smirk forming on his lips. Before that smirk could be blown to epic proportions of a full-blast grin, Cass grabbed him by the back of his neck and pulled him down in retaliation, smashing his face into his own mess, now wet and sticky on Cassidy’s shoulder.

"Ow! Cut that!” Jesse whined, offended. “Like you _mind..._ "  
Cassidy rolled his eyes at the sulky tone he got in return, which had somehow come out as not sulky at all with Jesse’s runny nose. But he had to admit that his preacher had had a point.  
"Nah, I think yer right, I don't" and with that, Cassidy tugged off his old t-shirt and pulled Jesse back down, this time letting him happily snuggle into his bare chest. Jess thanked him with a few sweet kisses and a small snore when he finally settled down for a nap.


End file.
